Card punch



July 23, 1957' R. TAYNTON" ETAL CARDVPUNCH 7 Filed Feb. 27. 1956 3Sheets Sheet 1 July 1957 R. TAYNTON EIAL 2,800,181

CARD PUNCH Filed Feb. 27. 1956 n 1 g ii CARD PUNCH Ralph Taynton, FallsChurch, and Bernd Vossen, Arlington, Va., assignors to Melpar, Inc.,Falls Church, Va., a corporation of New York The present inventionrelates generally to card punch and feed devices, and more particularlyto devices for punching selectively position-coded arrays of holes in acard, and for feeding the card step-wise'in response to each punchingoperation, preparatory to a further punching operation.

Brieflydescribing a preferred embodiment of the'present invention, acard carriage is provided, which is stepwise actuatable longitudinallyby means of a pawl and ratchet. The card carriage is normally springbiased toward a rearward position, and is movable forwardly in stepsagainst the bias force by means of the pawl and ratchet. A manuallyactuatable pivotable lever is provided at a convenient position of thedevice, whi'ch'when actuated in one sense releases the card from thecarriage, and when actuated in reverse sense cams a pawl lifting bar,which disengages the carriage actuating-pawl from its ratchet, to permitfree motion of the'carriage by the bias spring. The card clamping deviceand the pawl lifting bar maybe actuated in any longitudinal position ofthe card carriage.

The pawl is actuated once in response to each actuation of a card punchlever, on the return stroke of the latter..

A cylindrical punch selector is mounted in an opening in the card punchlever, for rotation with respect thereto. The punchselector includes aseries of apertures, distributed both axially and circumferentially, inselecting ones of which may be inserted punch actuating pins. Anyaxially distributed set of punch actuating pins may then be selected atwill by manual rotation of the cylinder.v

The selected set of pins is thatwhich extends approximately verticallydownwardly,in superposition of a set of upwardly spring biassed holepunching pins. Those punching pins are actuatable by depression of thecard punch lever which are in alignment with punch actuating pins. Inaddition, an interposer bar is secured pivotally to the card punch leverfor depression therewith, and is positionable selectively in anon-interposed positionor in an interposed position. When positioned ininterposed position the interposer bar is superposed over one punchingpin position, in which case actuaton of the punch lever causes a hole tobe punched for that one pin position, regardless of the rotary positionof the cylinder.

' It is, accordingly, a broad object of the present invention to providea system for punching arrays of holes in cards.

It is another object of the invention to provide a system forselectively releasing a card with respect t'oa movable carriage, andreleasing the carriage from control of a carriage actuating mechanism,in response to differently directed motions of'a single lever.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a system foreffecting a card punching operation, and thereafter automaticallyfeeding the card "step-wise with respect to a punching station. V

A furtherobject of the invention resides in the provision of a cardpunching machine having provision for punching coded-sets of'holes at.any'longitudinal position tiited States Patent ice of the card, thecard being normally fed sequentially from position to position step-wisein response to the punching operation, in which card release andcarriage return to an initial position are controlled by a single lever,and in which a predetermined code change may be introduced at will inany coded set of holes by means of a selectively positionable interposerdevice.

The above and still further objects, features and advantages of thepresent invention will becomeapparent upon consideration of thefollowing detailed description of one specific embodiment thereof,especially when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,wherein:

Figure l is a View in perspective of a card punch and feed device inaccordance with the present invention;

Figure 2 is a view in side elevation of the device of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a partial view in plan, of a card and carriage releasemechanism included in the machine of Figure l-3;

and

Figure 5 is a view in elevation corresponding with Figure 4.

Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings, thereference numeral 1 denotes a rectangular base, on which is secured apair of upright end plates 2, 3, separated by a transversely extendingpunching block 4. The latter includes a transversely extendinghorizontal slot 5, through which a rectangular card 6 may extend. Thecard may be fabricated of paper, card-board, or the like. Y 1

A plurality of laterally spaced vertical apertures 7'is provided in thepunching block 4. Within each aperture 7 extends a punching pin 8,having an upper portion 9 which rides snugly "within the aperture 7, anda lower portion 10 of smaller diameter. The lower end 11 of the pin 8constitutes a punch for the card' 6, and to this end the pin 8 may movedownwardly through the slot 5, through the card 6, and into an aperture12. The latter acts as a die and also provides a passage which permitsdisposal of punch waste. A compression spring 13 surrounds the portion10 of smaller diameter, and biasses the upper portion 9 toward anapertured cover plate 14, which limits upward motion of punching pins 8.An upward extension 15 of each pin 8, of reduced diameter, extendsthrough a mating aperture in the plate 14, and projects verticallyupwardly therefrom.

A card punch lever 18 is mounted on a cross shaft 19, which pivots inbearing apertures 20 in the upright end plates '2, 3. The card punchlever 18 extends longitudinally forwardly of the cross shaft 19 at aslight angle to the horizontal, and is provided with a vertical knob 21,adjacent its forward termination.

Secured immovably directly to the underside of card punch lever 18, insuperposition of punching block 4, is a stationary shaft 22. A punchactuator cylinder 23 rotates on the stationary shaft 22, and extendsthrough a rectangular opening 24 provided in the lever 18, to permitready manual access to cylinder 23. Flanges 25, 26 are integral with thepunch actuator cylinder 23, one at each end thereof. Flange 25 may beknurled to facilitate manual positioning of the cylinder 23, and flange26 may contain numerals, or other character designations, arrangedcircumferentially thereof to assist in positioning the cylinder 23. Theclearance between punch actuator pins 28 and the upward extensions 15 ofpins 8 is such that depression of knob 21 may cause actuation of pins 8,in a direction generally downwardly, for a sufficient distance toaccomplish a card punch operation. By selectively placing punch actuatorpins 28 in the several axial rows of apertures '27, any desiredcombination of holes may be punched at spaced lateral positions of thecard 6.

A- pawl 31 is secured to a Shirt 32, which extends downwardly from therearwardend of lever 18.- Depression of knob 21- raises; the skirt 32;and thusdis engages the pawl 31' from ratchet 33. On return of knob21 tounactuated position 'thepawl 31 engages; the ratchet 33, advancing sameforward-1y byv one step. The pawl 34 is aholding pawl; spring-biasedhy aspring 35 into engagement with ratchet 33. The-pawl 34 holds theratchet'33 in its last positiomwhile pawl 31; is disengaged, but permitsforward motion of ratchet 33- whenthe; latter is actuated by pawl-'31.Accordingly, each card punch operation is followed by astepped cardfeed,on release of' knob 21.1

In. addition to selection of card punch pins 8* by'the actuator pins 28,provision is made for manual selection at will of one additionalholeposition of card 6; To this end a lever 36 is securedfor horizontalmotion about a pin 37, extending perpendicularly of card punch lever 18.The forward end of lever 36 is provided with a small upwardly extendingknob 38,-suitedand positioned for convenient digital actuation of knob38. The rear ward end of lever 36 constitutes an interposer bar 39.

- In the unactuated position of knob 38 the interposer dinal edges ofthe card 6, and adjacentthe forwardoneof its laterally extending edges.Support of the recited portions of card 6 is provided by longitudinaland lateral shelves 41 and 42', respectively, of the carriage 40.Support of the card 6 adjacent two of its edges only permits the card toextend into slotand underthepunch pins 8.-

A plurality of spring clips 43 is secured at intervals, adjacent thelongitudinal shelf 41, being secured to the adjacent portion 44 of thecarriage 4% by small bolts 45, and extending over the card 6; a

The carriage 40* is normally spring biased to its rearwardmost positionby the pull of a cable 46,- which extends about a rotary drum 47'.

illustrated) contained internally ofdrum 47-.-

The forward element of carriage 40 supports a camming lever 48, pivotedintermediate its ends on a pin- 49, and actuatable by means of a knobStlsecured to one end thereof. Thecamming lever 48 serves a doublefunction. When the knob 50 is pushed forwardly, a

camming projection 51 on a rear-ward edge of: lever 48 actuates a.vertical pin 52. The pin- 52 is secured to and extends upwardly fromiafiat topped longitudinally extending rod 53, which extends immediatelyunder all the spring clips 43. The under surface of rod 53 is 05generally arcuate form, when viewed in crosssection, and nests in acorrespondingly shaped channel 54 in The latter is spring biased forrotation in a sense by a spiral spring- (not effect a punchingoperation.

ingly, rearward camming of the plate 57 by the camming surface 55 causesthe slots 58, and hence the plate 57, to ride up with respect to thepins 59. The plate 57 raises the pawls 31 and 34 out of engagement withthe ratchet 33, permitting rearward motion of carriage 40 in response tothe pull of the cable 46.

The carriage 40 includes a longitudinally extending under-carriage 60,of rectangular cross-section, having opposed V-shaped longitudinallyextending parallel notches .61 in its vertical walls. U-shapedlongitudinally extending support 62, within which the vertical arms ofwhich the under-carriage 60 extends. The inner vertical walls of theU-shaped support 62 contain opposed V-shaped longitudinal notches 63.The opening of each of notches 61 mates with one of the openings ofnotches 63, 'to provide a pair of bearing races, within which arelocated bearings 64.

De'scrip'tio'n bf operation Describing now the operation of'the deviceillustrated as embodying the present invention, with the carriage 40'initially pulled forwardly a card" 6 is inserted on the carriage 40"under the spring clips 43, and resting on It is assumed that punchactuating pins 28 have been inserted in selected ones of apertures 27,each laterally extending combination'of'pin positions representingacoded set of card holes. The coding, may be correlated with the indiciaon flange 26, for ready reference. The cylinder 23 maybe placed in anydesired orientation, and the knob 38 operated digitally to one of itspossible positions (from which it is spring returned), 80 thatinterp'oser bar 39 is, or is not, an interposed position, as the casemay be.

The knob .21 is then depressed,.actuating lever 18. The punch actuatingpins 28 (and the interposer bar. if in interposed position) depressselected punching. pins 8,.to The pawl 31 is withdrawn generallyrearwardly when knob 21 is depressed, the ratchet 33 being then held bythe holding pawl 34. On release of knob 21 the knob moves upwardly, inresponse to the force exerted by helical compression spring 30, and

the pawl 31 actuates both the ratchet 33v and the carriage 40 to whichthe ratchet is secured, forwardly by a predetermined distance.

completed the carriage may be pulled forwardly, the k nob- 50 pressedrearwardly to raise the spring clips 43 for card release, and thecompleted card. removed.

carriage 4t Actuation of pin 52 by cumming surface 51 of lever 48 causesrotation of rod 53 about its longitudinal The flat top of rod 53 thenraises all the spring clips 43 simultaneously, releasing the card 6.-

On rearward actuation of knob Stl a camming surface 55 on the rearwardedge of lever 48 impinges against one end 5'6 of a fiat plate 57. Theplate 57'liesin a vertical plane, and extends longitudinally of and inimmediate proximity to the carriage40, adjacent the ratchet 33. The end56 or" plate 57 slopes downwardlyand rearwardly, and the plate 57contains a pair of similar longitudinally displaced slots'58, which rideon pins 59. The pins 59 extend laterally of the carriagel ll), while theslots 58 slope forwardly and downwardly. Accord While we have describedand illustrated one specific embodiment of the present invention, itwill become apparent that variations of the specific details ofconstruction may be resorted to without departing from the true spiritand scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What we' claim is: V

1 A- card punching machine comprising a card carriage movable betweentwo extreme positions, said card carriage including a plurality of cardholding fingers normally resiliently pressing said card against saidcard carriage, means for spring biasingsaid card carriage toward one ofsaid extreme'positions, a ratchet extending along the length of saidcard carriage and secured to said card carriage, a: holding pawlnormally engaged with said ratchet for holdingsaidratchet fixed, amember manually actuatable to either oftwo positions,.-meansresponsiveto said member in one of said two positions for raising The basesupports a said fingers from pressing engagement with said card, andmeans responsive to said member when actuated to the other of saidpositions for disengaging said pawl from said ratchet.

2. The combination in accordance with claim 1 wherein said card carriageis movable relative to said pawl, and wherein said means for raisingsaid pawl is operative in any position of said card carriage.

3. The combination in accordance with claim 1 wherein said means forraising said fingers includes an elongated bar having a flat proximatelyparallel with and under said fingers, and means for rotating said barabout its longitudinal axis..

4. A card punch, comprising a cylinder positionable about its axis andpivotable on a further axis, a plurality of card punch actuator pinssecured predetermined in axially distributed arrays about the peripheryof said cylinder, a card punch block having a guide slot for said card,a plurality of depressible card punch pins within said card punch blockand extending toward said guide slot in alignment with one array of saidactuator pins, means spring biasing said card punch pins out of punchingposition, and means for pivoting said cylinder about said further axissufliciently to cause said actuator pins to depress said card punch pinsinto punching position.

5. In a card punch machine, means for securing a card in fixed position,a rotary cylinder, a plurality of punch actuator pins secured about theperiphery of said rotary cylinder in axial arrays, a plurality ofin-line punching pins individually actuatable to punching position byindividual ones of said punch actuator pins, an interposer bar movableat will to either of two positions, said interposer bar superposed overone of said punching pins only in one of the two positions of saidinterposer bar only, and means for simultaneously actuating saidinterposer bar and said punch actuator pins toward and into actuatingrelation with said punching pins.

6. In a machine for punching holes in a card, a stationary base, a cardcarriage movable over said base in a predetermined line between twoextreme positions, the distance between said extreme positionscomprehending a plurality of discrete card positions separatedlongitudinally of said card, manual means for punching transverselyposition coded holes in said card at each discrete card position, meansresponsive to said manuel means for feeding said card carriage from oneto another of said discrete card positions in response to and followingeach punching operation of said manual means for punching, said meansfor punching including means for at will manually selecting the codingof said holes, wherein said manual means for punching transverselyposition coded holes in said card and for selecting the coding at willcomprises a pivotable punch lever, a cylinder mounted for rotation withrespect to said cylinder and pivotable with said punch lever, saidcylinder including transversely coded punch actuator pins inpre-selected codings at different angular positions about the peripheryof said cylinder.

7. The combination in accordance with claim 6 wherein is providedfurther means for at will modifying any of said codings, comprising abar movable at will between a punch actuating position and anon-punch-actuating position.

8. The combination in accordance with claim 7 wherein said further meansis mounted on said pivotable punch lever for actuation therewith.

. 9. The combination in accordance with claim 8 wherein is furtherprovided means for at will releasing said card carriage for freemovement with respect to said base and in said predetermined line, saidlast means operative at any position of said carriage, and means forautomatically drawing said card carriage to one of its extreme positionsonsaid releasing of said card carriage.

, 10. The combination in accordance with claim 9 wherein is furtherprovided a manually pivotable'lever having two operative positions,means normally securing said card to said carriage, means responsive tosaid manually pivotable lever in one of said two operative positions forreleasing said means for securing said card and in the other of said twooperative positions for actuating said means for releasing said cardcarriage.

11. A card punch machine, comprising a base, a card carriage movablebetween two extreme positions with respect to said base, means biasingsaid carriage toward one of said positions, comprising a rotary cylinderpivotally secured to said base, spring means biasing said rotary memberin one direction of rotation, a cable secured at one end to said rotarymember for translatory actuation thereby and secured at the other end tosaid carriage, means for effecting motion of said carriage toward theother of said extreme positions in opposition to said means for biasing,and means for releasing said carriage toward the one of said extremepositions in response to said means for biasing of said carriage,wherein is provided manually actuatable means for selectively punchingpredetermined arrays of holes in said card, said manually actuatablemeans having a punch position and a return position, means maintainingsaid carriage stationary during motion of said manually actuatable meansto punch position and means for actuating said carriage a predetermineddistance against the force exerted by said means for biasing duringmotion of said manually actuatable means to said return position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS579,433 Hertzberg Mar. 23, 1897 1,745,910 Peirce Feb. 4, 1930 1,750,216Ewald Mar. 11, 1930 2,041,085 Nevin May 19, 1936 2,421,069 Kelley May27, 1947

